1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a bumper fascia for a vehicle. More particularly, it relates to an improvement of a part of the bumper fascia, which is positioned beneath a pair of head lamps of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An example of the prior art front bumper structure as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4A, 4B, and 4C. In FIG. 1, reference numerals 1, 1 designate a pair of head lamps arranged on a front end of the vehicle. Under the head lamps 1, 1, a front bumper 2 extends along a width direction of the vehicle.
As shown in FIG. 2, each of the head lamps 1 includes a lamp housing 3, which houses light bulbs (now shown) and a lamp lens 4, which is attached to leading ends of the lamp housing 3.
In the front bumper 2, an armature 5 extending over the substantial whole width of the vehicle is fixed to a front end of a front side member (not shown) as reinforcement through the intermediary of a bumper stay (also not shown). A bumper fascia 6 of synthetic resin as a part of the front bumper 2 is positioned to cover the armature 5.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the bumper fascia 6 is adapted in a manner that respective side portions 6a extend up to lateral sides of the vehicle and are attached to front fenders 7 while a central part 6b is attached to the armature 5.
Note that, this kind of bumper structure is also disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 3-49143.
In the above-mentioned conventional bumper structure, however, if a top end of the armature 5 is visible from the front of the vehicle through under faces 4a of the lamp lenses 4, the vehicle's appearance quality would be damaged and a so-called "glare" effect would be caused by reflection of light from the top end of the armature 5. Therefore, conventionally, there has been taken a countermeasure to paint the under faces 4a of the lamp lenses 4 black in order to put the top end out of sight and to prevent an occurrence of the "glare" effect. Consequently, such a painting operation is troublesome for a manufacturer and simultaneously, the manufacturing cost of the vehicle itself will be increased.
Further, when the vehicle collides lightly, an upper and rear end portion 6c of the bumper fascia 6 will collide with a vertical face 5a of the armature 5 to deform upwardly, as shown with the single-dotted lines of FIG. 2. Consequently, the bumper fascia 6 will interfere with the lamp lens 4.
Additionally, in such a bumper fascia as shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C where a grill portion 6d thereof is formed on the upside of a central part 6b in one body, when it is transferred by a pair of conveyers 8, 8, the grill portion 6d projects downwardly between the pair of conveyers 8, 8, so that the grill portion 6d may interfere with another member 9, as shown in FIG. 4C. Further, in case of painting the bumper fascia 6 while being transferred, there will be a problem in that it is impossible to paint the grill portion 6d sinking between the pair of conveyers 8, 8. In particular, since both side edges of the grill portion 6d are hidden by the conveyers 8, 8, they may not become painted.